1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to biometric identification, and more particularly to an interactive radio frequency (RF) biometric identification system, and corresponding methods, that includes an identification device (e.g., a card, fob, tag, band, or the like) that may be carried, worn or embedded on/in the bearer's person. The RF-based device stores and transmits multiple-protocol capable, encrypted, encoded binary biometric data (e.g., fingerprints, voice prints, iris scan data, retina scan data, hand prints, or other biometric data) that uniquely identifies an individual or identifies an individual with a significant probability, which can be compared to locally collected biometric information in a front end portion of the system to verify the identity of the bearer of the device.
2. Relevant Background
The use of biometrics to enhance security is increasing rapidly in recent years. The term biometrics refers generally to the measurement of one or more a living trait or a personal characteristic of a person, such as a fingerprint, a voice print, an iris scan, or any other characteristic unique to the individual. These biometrics are more and more often being used to control access. For example, numerous technologies are being developed and implemented that interpret personal traits or biometric information for access control purposes in place of more easily fooled identification systems such as those based solely on entry of a password. Unfortunately, existing biometric-based security systems have not provided the high levels of accuracy and ease of use that is demanded by users of such systems.
In some existing biometric secure access systems, an individual, such as a potential user of a computer device or a person desiring access to a financial account or access to a secure room or facility, may provide a biometric finger print to a reader device to be compared against data on a smart card that also be inserted into the device. This type of system requires the user to enter his user ID and password and provide his finger for a finger print scanner. The image of the finger print is then transmitted to the server along with a scanned image of the finger that was placed on the scanner and verified to be a match. If there is a match, the log on process will proceed as normal with the validation of the user ID and password. However, the information is still being communicated to a server and therefore, the potential for compromising system security is increased. Since these readers provide no first level authentication prior to sending data, there is an increased potential for security risk to the system as the transmitted data may be intercepted.
The systems described above are sometimes labeled “polling-type systems” because they continuously monitor insertion-type card readers to see if an identity card has been inserted. The constant querying of the readers requires a significant amount of computer and mechanical support and typically requires a significant amount of central processing unit (CPU) time and physical memory in order for the system to properly function. In today's corporate world, a security system server that communicates with tens or perhaps hundreds of readers, requires a significant overhead, which is why systems available now often use a dedicated device for these functions. As will be appreciated in the example of biometrics being used to provide secure access to a computing device, the “secured” device which has an insertion-based reader attached will not be able to provide valuable CPU cycles and memory to user applications while the biometric access methods continually are asking or polling the reader to determined if a smart card is inserted and is the proper smart card.
The amount of data that must be processed by existing systems further limits their effectiveness and utility. For example, the insertion-based system described above compares input data for identification against data from perhaps a large number individuals' biometric data or information. The systems also must transmit information, whether by wire or wirelessly, to remote locations which permits unauthorized access to or theft of the information that is transmitted or received. For example, a hacker or unauthorized person could try to defeat or compromise an ID card by providing a “look-alike” reader, such as at an automatic teller implementation. A cardholder then inserts his card into this fake reader. If communication is allowed to the reader prior to authentication, the hacker could then attempt to read from or “pull” information from the card, such as in this example, the card holder's fingerprint template, this live scan of their fingerprint, their bank account(s) numbers, as well as all other confidential information on the card.
Hence, there remains a need for improved methods and systems for utilizing biometric information for identification verification purposes in security systems, such as systems used to control access to facilities, to use of devices, to accounts, to physical facilities, and the like.